Searching for Sources of High Energy Neutrinos from Magnetars with IceCube

Magnetars are neutron stars with very strong magnetic fields on the order of 10¹³ to 10¹⁵ G. Young magnetars with oppositely-oriented magnetic fields and spin moments may emit high-energy (HE) neutrinos from their polar caps as they may be able to accelerate cosmic rays to above the photomeson threshold [1]. Giant flares of soft gamma-ray repeaters (a subclass of magnetars) may also produce HE neutrinos and therefore a HE neutrino flux from this class is potentially detectable [2]. Here we present plans to search for neutrino emission from magnetars listed in the McGill Online Magnetar Catalog using 10 years of well-reconstructed IceCube muon-neutrino events looking for significant clustering around magnetars’ direction. IceCube is a cubic kilometer neutrino observatory at the South Pole and has been fully operational for the past ten years.